


Coal Hill

by Dorkangel



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 16:11:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1475926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorkangel/pseuds/Dorkangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clara teaches at Coal Hill School, the same school that Susan went to. Clara reincarnates... What if she was there at the same time as Susan?<br/>Just a quick Drabble really...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coal Hill

The young trainee teacher stood, bored, outside the door of the classroom. The other teacher had probably forgotten about her. Standing there...waiting for a sheet of paper.  
Tock, tock, tock.  
The sound of the clock on the wall burned into her brain.  
Come on! Something had to happen: the bell could ring or the school could explode or-  
She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her Alice band. It'd be much better if she could just stay still and accept the fact that in ten minutes the teacher was going to come out, looking apologetic, give her the papers she needed and she'd grimace in a fake, annoyed smile and then she'd walk away, and until then, nothing was going to happen.

And then a student came out of toilets, wiping her eyes and hiccuping a little with half sobs that she couldn't stop. She was small but in her teens, with short, dark hair and elfin features.  
"Hey," said the new teacher, standing up from her position against the wall. "Are you alright?"  
"Yes, I'm absolutely fine, thank you." said the girl unconvincingly. She was still crying. "No, you're not. Come on, sit down."  
They went over to a little bench: most of that corridor was deserted anyway.  
"What's your name?"  
"Susan. Susan Foreman."  
"I'm Clara, I'm training to be a teacher. Actually, you should probably call me Miss Oswald, but I think Clara's fine for now."  
"Ok."  
Clara hugged the crying student. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"  
"Not really."  
"That's alright. Do you want to go back to your class?"  
"Not really."  
"Fair enough."  
Clara hesitated. Of course, it was none of her business...  
"Was it the kids in your class then? I don't mean to butt in, but I-"  
"No, it wasn't them."  
"Not the teacher, was it? Mr. Brooks can be awful!"  
She shook her head. "No, not really. It was just... We had to write about home and- oh, promise not to tell?"  
"I promise! I'll tell YOU a secret...umm...I'm wearing bright pink pants. I dyed them by accident."  
Susan laughed. "Well, me and my Grandfather haven't really got a home, and I told Miss, sort of, that there was nothing I could really write about, and she said before I lived with Grandfather maybe or back where I lived before we moved around and I just couldn't help it, I started crying-"  
"Hey, that's not your fault. She was just being insensitive..."  
"I just miss home."  
"What was it like?"  
"...red. I wore red clothes and the sky was red. I-in the sunsets, I mean. I was only very little. Grandfather rescued me, I guess, my parents...weren't allowed to look after me and they were going to send me to boarding school. I was eight.  
He's really nice, but he's a bit forgetful and he can be a bit grumpy, and I was just missing home today anyway, and then..."  
"Yeah. I can't say I know how that feels, but I do know about loneliness. Are you alright now?"  
"Yes, much better. It's nice to tell someone."  
"Yeah. If you ever need anyone to talk to, you can ask me, you know."  
Susan had nodded and skipped away. Literally skipped. There was something odd about her, but Clara didn't mind. The sad thing was that Susan Foreman disappeared two weeks later. Clara and two of the teachers - Mr Chesterton and Ms Wright, she forgot their first names - looked for her, but no one ever knew what had happened to her.

If only they did know.


End file.
